When Stephanie G. got hit with a dog-custody lawsuit, she called a lawyer. “We contacted an attorney to defend her. She didn’t have a voice legally of her own. We had to speak for her,” Stephanie says.
To read Watchdog Mary’s article in Dogster Magazine, click here.
Jennifer Aniston, Instagram
When the pandemic hit, the number of people who fostered or adopted dogs skyrocketed! Some of our favorite celebs took part in the canine craze.
As the worldwide race to find a COVID-19 vaccine continues, one conservation group worries 500,000 sharks could die as a result of the process.
Shark Allies says squalene, a compound harvested from shark liver oil, is used in many vaccines as an adjuvant to boost their effectiveness. And while all people, animals, and plants produce the substance, the group says, “Squalene made from shark liver oil is used most commonly because it is cheap to obtain and easy to come by, not because it is more effective than other sources.”
EnviroNews
Parts of eastern Arizona are a conflict zone, as a 100-year war between ranchers, conservation groups, government agencies, and the endangered Mexican gray wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) rages on. The rarest subspecies of gray wolf, also known as “el lobo,” is doing what wolves have always done in their native territories: they hunt and eat animals weakened by misfortune, time and nature itself. But ranchers who sell their cows, sometimes for $1200-$1500 per animal, aren’t happy when someone’s future hamburger becomes a wolf’s dinner.
Jayme Harley woke up to the sound of text notifications from her phone early one morning two weeks ago. She opened the messages and saw her boyfriend had sent a photo of a sad-looking dog at a gas station and written, “Go get him!”
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s story in The Dodo.
Today the USDA announced it’s going to launch an updated online tool to help people access Animal Welfare Act compliance records, including a searchable database of inspection and annual reports.
The federal agency is required to inspect thousands of places that house animals, from puppy breeders to zoos and research labs. But in early 2017, officials removed those inspection reports from its website. That move outraged many animal welfare groups.
No word yet if this new system that launches September 21, 2020, will include those records.
Photo credit: Nataliya Vaitkevich
Patricia says she and her mother were trapped.
They were stuck living with the abusive man Patricia's mother married. Each time they'd plot ways to escape, they would end up staying because of their cat.
“We couldn't find a place to go where we could also bring my cat,” Patricia says. “Shelters typically don't take in pets, and we loved him too much to leave him behind.”
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in Waggle.org.
Photo by Tomas Ryant from Pexels
What you see may not be what you get. Think you’ve got a Maine Coon? Don’t judge your cat by his cover — the lineage and health issues feline DNA tests might uncover.
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in Catster Magazine.
Noah, Credit: Sarah Lou McIntyre
You know dogs, they love being outside, following their noses as they weave out of fields and grasses. But that eagerness could cause trouble if they rub a foxtail the wrong way.
What is a foxtail?
Foxtails grow as bunches of grass with little spiky seeds. According to the US Forest Service, foxtail grows almost everywhere across the country and in Canada.
The barbs on the weeds are what dog owners should be aware of; they can literally impale your dog. “The foxtail awn has a sharp, pointy end that allows it to easily penetrate the skin and other tissues, and microscopic barbs prevent it from backing its way out,” veterinarian Jennifer Coates said.
To read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in Just Labs Magazine click here.
When Sarah Barbosa moved from Massachusetts to Texas a couple of years ago, she planned on retiring from wildlife rehabbing to concentrate on her growing family.
But recently, Barbosa saw a post online. A construction worker had knocked a bird's nest with eggs inside off a man’s roof. The homeowner felt horrible and was trying to get help.
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s story in The Dodo.
Two starving, scared dogs living in a Brownsville, Texas, fast food restaurant parking lot had nowhere to go — until 18-year-old Destiny Vasquez spotted one of them, whipped out her cell phone and took a video.
"I was in the drive-thru, I saw one of the dogs and said, 'Oh my gosh! This dog has no home," Vasquez told The Dodo. "I was crying and crying. I called my mom, and I said, 'Mom, I have to get this dog.' I didn't know there were two dogs at the time."
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s story in The Dodo.
Stacee Jones has fostered more than 100 dogs and cats. She thought she had seen it all — until one day last month, when the group she fosters for, Jelly's Place in San Pablo, California, took in the survivors of two separate cases.
Click here to read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in The Dodo.
The COVID-19 pandemic set off an explosion of pet adoptions in the United States.
And from coast to coast, we found many rescues and shelters say they cannot keep up with the number of adoption applications they are receiving. Many are from people who started working at home and decided it was the perfect time to welcome a new family member.
When Kendal Benken saw a post online about three kittens who needed round-the-clock bottle feeding, she offered to help right away.
"The COVID-19 outbreak hit, and I was sheltering at home," Benken told The Dodo. "I was looking for something to do. Who doesn't enjoy cute little kittens? I saw it as a great opportunity."
Jelly's Place animal rescue in San Pablo, California, approved Benken to be the kittens' foster mom. But the moment Benken brought the kittens home, it became clear her 105-pound Lab mix, Truvy, wanted her job.
Murphy
“Come on!”
The voice said.
“Huh? Who said that?” My mother wondered as she struggled to hang curtains back in the late ‘70s.
Then it happened again.
“Come on!”
The little voice said. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It didn’t sound exactly like a person, but it clearly said, “Come on!”
A minute later, the voice said it again.
My mother looked around and confirmed no one was home. The radio was off. The TV was off. As she searched for the origin of the voice, she thought, “Could it be the parakeet? No, it couldn’t be? Well maybe?”
Just a few months before this bird was on death’s door.
My mother agreed to take the budgie in after he lived with some nutty kids who specialized in terrorizing the small pets they had.
When the bird first arrived, he barely had any feathers, and he didn’t want to eat; he just sat huddled on his perch trying to stay warm.
We named him Murphy. My mother knew what she was doing, she fed him good food, vitamins, put a blanket over his cage to keep out any drafts, and let him chill out.
In time he started to look a lot better, but he was still so terrified of people when you’d put your hand in his cage he’d try to bite.
So, we gave him more time, treated him with kindness, and slowly he started to come around. He stopped trying to bite, he seemed happier and would fly to the side of his cage to see us.
And on that frustrating curtain hanging day, as my mother searched for the voice saying, “come on,” she found it was coming right from his cage! Murphy turned the corner so much that he started to talk.
My mother was astonished. She wondered how Murphy learned the phrase. But there was no question how it happened.
She said it to me about a dozen times a day.
“Come on, Mary, you’ll be late.”
“Come on, Mary, do your homework.”
“Come on, Mary, turn off the video games.”
The “come ons” went on and on.
My mother didn’t limit “come on” to just me. She would also say it to the bird to get him out of his shell, “Come on Murphy, come get some food.”
She would try just plain ole happy sounding, “Come on!” To coax the bird to come to the side of his cage or onto her hand without biting.
During those months Murphy sat huddled in his cage healing, the poor beaten down parakeet absorbed what he heard most often and started to repeat it.
Murphy
Soon Murphy blossomed and amazingly developed a full vocabulary.
He’d say his name and, “Oh hi!”
Murphy was now so happy he made up a song about himself, it went something like, “The Merb, the Merb, the Merbie bird!”
He would ride on a small plastic toy train and make “choo choo choo” sounds like he was on a real engine.
We’d just leave his cage door open and he would come in and out as he wanted. He would fly around the kitchen and family room, sometimes landing on my dad’s knee as he read the paper. He would try to nibble on the paper and make noises to get his attention.
Sometimes he’d fly over, land on the kitchen table, look at what we were eating and say, “mmmmmm,” and we’d feed him.
In my opinion, his new talents were all sparked by love, care and continuously hearing, “come on.”
But the “come ons” Murphy heard were only the ones my mother said inside our home.
There were many he missed outside the house.
At my swim team meets she’d yell louder than anyone in the audience, “Come on, Mary, go!”
Every time I’d stick my head out of the water gasping for breath as I attempted to win a 100-yard breaststroke race, I’d hear her voice, “Come on … (gurgle, gurgle) M—y!”
Some days, if she picked me up and I was bummed about something she allowed no time spent on self-pity. “Oh, come on Mary, life isn’t always fair. Come on, let’s go shopping!”
On a cold winter day, after living a life span that far exceeded any budgie, Murphy passed away. I remember my mother waking me to tell me, and we both sobbed.
What an amazing spirit. If you didn’t see and hear everything he did, and all his performances with your own eyes, it was hard to believe a parakeet could pull it off.
He is still buried in the rose garden in my parent’s back yard.
And my mother’s “come ons” still continued. As I got older, they got more serious. If I was sad about some teenage crush she’d say, “Oh come on, get yourself up, put on some lipstick, and get back out there. Don’t ever let grass grow under your feet!”
One of her most monumental “come ons” was in college. I was a science major, and that math part of chemistry, yeah, it wasn’t working out so well.
As I tearfully dialed the phone to inform my mother I may be flunking out, her response was tough love, “Oh, come on. You better get your act together. Go over to the school of communications, see what classes they offer, you’ll be good at something there!”
Her “come on” that time changed my path in life and her “come ons” still continue today.
But it really wasn’t until recently that I began to really realize the significance of that phrase and that talented bird that came into my life when I was young.
My mother’s perseverance and determination inspired Murphy and me to be the best we could possibly be.
My mother and me
I was lucky enough to witness how love, care, and some motivational “come ons” can transform and breathe new life into the most broken down of animals, and the most confused teenager at a crossroads.
My mother taught me how to treasure, not only Murphy, but all animals. He was our first “rescue.” There have since been many that have come through our homes and hearts.
Gus and Lucy, two of many rescued dogs
She showed me that we’re all one big circle of life that works best when everyone respects one another. It’s from this I draw my passion for writing about animals and sticking up for consumers. And, oh yeah, that degree from the Marquette University College of Communications helped too.
Her “come ons” were precisely what Murphy and I needed. And oh, don’t get me wrong, when my mother would say, “come on,” you didn’t want to hear it. You wanted to stew in your insecurity, wallow in your sadness, or stick with what you were trying to get away with.
But her persistent words inspired a tiny featherless parakeet to bounce back from practically the grave.
And I’ve come to recognize her “come ons” have lasted and inspired me for a lifetime.
Mothers out there, keep pushing your kids to come on, get up, shake it off, get back in the game, and try harder. Not everyone has a bird reminding them, so they need their mom.
My mother and me
The second I heard my big, beautiful, black Lab, Solly, inhale that hot July day last summer, I knew it. There’s no mistaking that raspy sound; he had laryngeal paralysis.
My heart sunk. I couldn’t believe lightning struck twice. To read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in Just Labs Magazine, click here.
A stray kitty Danielle Schafer spotted on a rural street ended up saving her life and the lives of others.
Here is Watchdog Mary’s award-winning article about the pair originally published in Catster Magazine:
Credit: Dogster
Are you locked inside your house with your new puppy who is bouncing off the wall? Are you hunkered down with your adult dog, who needs training, but you never had the time?
It may seem like the middle of a coronavirus crisis is not the time to take your pup out to socialize or enroll in a group training class; staying 6 feet away from people would be tough.
To read the rest of Watchdog Mary’s article in Dogster Magazine click here.
Credit Catster
The coronavirus outbreak means many of us are hunkering down with our cats. You might be working from home, self-isolating, or even ill with COVID-19. So what precautions should you take with your kitty?
Read Watchdog Mary’s article in Catster for what you need to know about the coronavirus and cats.
Credit Dogster
We’re living in a scary world right now. The coronavirus continues to spread along with it a lot of uncertainty. How do you and your dog cope if the global pandemic hits your household? Here’s what pet owners need to know about the coronavirus and dogs.
Read Watchdog Mary’s latest article in Dogster Magazine, including new information about if you can catch COVID-19 from your dog.
